Kadhai Paneer

Kadhai Paneer is a must item in the menu card of all most all of the restaurants serving Indian food. But the question is how many restaurants serve the authentic Kadai Paneer? The sad note is, restaurants quoting “Authentic Punjabi Food” also fail to serve the best Kadai Paneer. The reason behind this is most of the restaurant seem to use the same thick oily creamy gravy, prepared for other dishes & just throw in the vegetables required.

The name itself indicates that Paneer cooked in Kadai(wok). The taste of this curry defies the simplicity of its preparation. This curry is quick to make, uses mostly regular kitchen items and tastes fantastic. You could just as easily use this curry as a filler for a sandwich or a wrap or use it as a side dish with Indian flat breads like naan or chappathis.

Ingredients:

• 250 g Paneer(Indian Cottage Cheese) cut into cubes
• 1 large Onion grated
• 1 medium size Onion chopped into cubes
• 2 Capsicum chopped into cubes
• 1 medium Tomato grated
• 4 pods of Green Cardamom (powdered)
• 1 tbs of Coriander seeds paste
• 1 tea spoon Cumin seeds
• 1 stick of Cinnamon(powdered)
• 1 tbs Ginger-Garlic paste
• 2 tbs Clarified Butter(Ghee)
• 2 tea spoon Red Chilli powder
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 1/2 cup milk
• handful Cilantro (Coriander leaves)  chopped finely for garnish
• Salt to taste
• 4-5 tbs Refined oil

Heat 2 tbs of oil in pan. When hot, add the chopped Capsicum and Onion to it. Saute it for a while. Sprinkle salt to it and leave it till the Onion looks transparent. Remove it from fire. Add rest of the oil to it. When the oil is sizzling hot add the Cumin seeds to it. When the Cumin seeds starts sputtering add 1 tbs Clarified Butter(Ghee) to the oil. Let the ghee melt. Now add the Bay Leaves, Cardamom powder  and Cinnamon powder. As a sweet aroma fills your nose, add the Coriander seed paste. Saute it and add the grated Onion, grated Tomato to it. Mix them well. Add red Chilli powder, Turmeric Powder and Ginger-Garlic paste to it. Cook it on low flame for 15 minutes. Add the fried Capsicum and Onions to it. Mix them well and cook it on low flame for another 5 minutes. Add the cubed paneer, salt to taste and milk. Cover the pan with a lid and allow the paneer to cook on low heat until it softens and most of the milk is absorbed.  Add remaining 1 tbs of ghee and remove from heat, garnish with finely cut Cilantro and serve hot with Indian flat bread or naan or use in sandwiches or in wraps as a filling.

Beguni (Crispy Egg Plant)

The warm weather has given way to thunderstorms, rain and cooler winds. “This beautiful weather calls for some bajjis with chai.”

Beguni is a mouth-watering snack and ideal to be eaten on a rainy day. It is a Bengali snack made of  Egg plant (aubergine or brinjal) slices deep fried in batter. The similar European version is known as aubergine fritters. In Kolkata, it is sold in every single neighborhood and street corner. It is eaten with puffed rice specially by the people of Medinipore district. Beguni is served in wedding parties during lunch to go with rice and daal and in small or large parties at home too.  Beguni is also a quintessential component of the Bengali  monsoon cuisine, where it is consumed along with a rice and lentil preparation called khichuri.

Ingredients:

• 1 Egg Plant (Sliced in thin rounds or semi circles. Depending on the kind of eggplant you are using)
• 1 cup Chick pea flour/ Besan
• 1/4 tea spoon Baking Soda
• 1 tea spoon Red Chilli powder
• 1 tea spoon Turmeric powder
• 1 tea spoon Onion seed (Kalonji/Kalojeera)
• 1 tea spoon cumin powder
• 1-2 tea spoon Poppy seeds (optional)
• 250 ml Refined oil for deep frying
• Salt to taste

Mix  chickpea flour with all the spices listed above. Add water gradually to make a batter. The batter must be that much thick that it flows consistently. Wash and pat dry the slices of  Egg Plant.  Heat oil in a deep bottomed frying pan. When the oil is hot dip the Egg Plant slices in the batter so that the slices are uniformly coated and gently slide them in to the hot oil. Fry till golden brown on both sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and place it on tissue paper so that the extra oil is soaked . Sprinkle some Chaat Masala on the Beguni for that additional tang. Beguni is ready to be served.

Peda/Pera

Some of the most famous Indian dishes are identified with cities where they were invented or given a special treatment – Agra ka petha, Hyderabadi biryani, Kolkata ka rasgulla, Bombay ki bhelpuri, Mysore masala dosa, Amritsari machhi, Sandeela ka laddu, Mathura ka Peda and Khurja ki khurchan and so on. About 100 kms from Delhi is the city of Mathura, famous for being the land of Krishna, the playful Hindu god fond of milk and milk-based sweets. This city is also known for its pedas: sweet, gooey, and dark-brown.

Pera is usually prepared with thick, semi-soft pieces of milk. The main ingredients are khoa (Condensed milk), sugar and traditional flavorings, including Cardamom seeds, Pistachio nuts and Saffron. The color varies from a creamy white to a caramel colour.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Milk (for Chhena/Paneer/Indian Cottage Cheese)
• 4 tbs Lemon juice
• 1 cup Milk ( for making Peda dough)
• 1 cup Milk Powder
• 3 tbs Butter
• 1 cup Sugar
• 4-5 tbs all purpose flour (Maida)
• 20 Resins

Heat 2 cups of milk in a thick bottomed container. Stir the milk continuously to prevent it from sticking at the bottom. When the milk starts boiling add the lemon juice to it. Within a fraction of second you will notice that the Paneer/Cheese lumps starts separating from the water. Remove it from the fire. With the help of a soft cloth drain the excess water and collect the Paneer lumps. Let it cool down. When it is cold squeeze the excess water from the Paneer. Squeeze away as much water as you can. Now the Paneer is ready.

In a fresh container heat Butter. When the Butter melts add the remaining one cup of Milk, Milk Powder and Paneer to it. Mix them well. Heat of a medium flame for about 30 minutes.  Keep on stirring to prevent the mixture from sticking below.  The mixture slowly will turn into a dough. Add 4-5 tbs of all purpose flour (Maida) to it to give the dough a firm nature. Remove it from fire. Divide the dough in to 15-16 equal parts (number will depend on the size). With the help of palm give the individual parts a round shape. Garnish them with Resins at the top. Pera is ready for special occasion “Moo Meetha”.

Note: You need to garnish the Peda’s when they are still warm, so that the dressings stick well.

Begun Diye Ihhish Machher Jhol (Hilsha Cooked with Egg Plant)

Monsoon and Ilish are two synonyms for Bengal. Monsoon spells its magic on us and we Bengali’s get hooked to Ilish. Crazy lovers of Illish starts relishing Ilish macher paturi , bhapa , a simple bhaja, jhal or jhol. Each recipe differs in its taste and preparation process.

Machher Paturi: Marinated with coconut and spices then wrapped in leaves and fried or steamed.

Bhapa: Steamed with Yogurt and Mustard paste

Bhaja: Simply fried with Salt and Turmeric powder

Jhal: Thick gravy of Mustard and Poppy

Jhol: Cooked with vegetables and very little spice

It’s said that no part of Ilish fish is wasted, from Ilish macher tel (fat) to dim or egg, macher moro or fish head,laej or tail everything is so savory and is fondly eaten too. This fish is high in omega3 content, which comes out as oil during frying . What makes this fish so popular , I guess to me its the taste which is enhanced by the aroma. Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) has been honoured as the National Fish of Bangladesh and is extremely popular in Eastern India. Alas, we Bengali’s who are bound to stay out of Bengal for the sake of job, relish Illish rarely, maybe ones or twice in the whole season.

Yesterday was one such savory day. I cooked Illish Machher Jhol with Egg Plant.

Ingredients:

• 6 pieces of Hilsha (Illish) cut in ring shape
• 1 medium size Egg Plant/Brinjal (cut into 7-8 pieces)
• 4- 5 Green Chilli (cut length wise)
• 2 tea spoon Onion Seeds (Kalonji/Kalo-jeera)
• 2 tea spoon Cumin powder (jeera powder)
• 4 tea spoon Turmeric powder
• 1 tea spoon Red Chilli powder
• 4 tbs Mustard Oil (Refined oil can also be used)
• 1 pinch of Sugar (optional)
• Salt to taste

Marinate the fish pieces with salt and  2 tea spoon Turmeric powder. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is smoky hot add the fish pieces.  Fry till they are golden in color. Remove them from pan. Use the same oil for further cooking. Add  Onion seeds, Turmeric powder, red Chilli powder, Cumin powder, pinch of Sugar, Green Chilli and salt to taste. Saute it for 2 minutes, add the Egg Plant pieces. Mix them well with the spices. Cook it on low flame till the Egg Plant pieces are about 3/4 cooked.  Add 1 1/2 cups of water. Increase the flame. When the gravy reaches boiling point add the fried fish pieces. Cook it on low flame for 4-5 minutes. Illish Machher  jhol is ready to be served with steamed, white rice.

Stuffed Crispy Okra (Bharwe kurkure bhendi)

Many of us specially the kids do not like Okra/Bhendi because of mucilaginous, resulting in the characteristic “goo” or slime when cooked. Like is or not as it is a green veggie its good for growing kids and for all who are grown up too. More than 50 dishes can be prepared with Okra. But most of them will be slime. But the kurkure bhindi recipe offers a novel and tasty twist to a typical bhindi  and solves the problem of slime.

Coming to today’s dish the title itself says  that its combo of two dish. As I am bit newfangled by nature I have introduced bhendi in this way. This will give a tangy crispy  taste to Okra/Bhendi. This a dish that is perfect for rainy days or for those days when you want to have a hot, hearty and nutritious meal. The spicy pungent flavors of the chosen spices just blends with the bhindi or Okra which is deep fried to impart a golden look and a crispy (kurkure) texture.

Ingredients:

• 350 g Okra/Bhendi
• 1 large Onion grated
• 1 tbs Tamarind pulp/ 1tbs Amchur powder/1 tbs gated Mango in season (quantity can be varied as per taste)
• 2 tea spoon Garlic paste
• 4 green Chilli (crushed to paste)
• 2 tea spoon Coriander powder
• 2 tea spoon Cumin powder
• 2 tea spoon Turmeric powder
• 1/2 tea spoon Methi powder ( Fenugreek )
• 1 cup of Besan (Chick pea flour)
• 1 tea spoon Azwain (Carom, Ajowan, Bishop’s Weed)
• 1 tea spoon Kalongi (Onion seed)
• 250 ml Refined oil (for deep frying)
• Salt to taste

Wash the Okras and pat dry. Cut them length wise carefully so that they do not cut into two halves. Leave them and lets prepare the stuffing .Heat about 2 tbs of oil in a wok. When the oil is sizzling hot  add the grated Onion, Garlic paste, green Chilli paste, Coriander powder, Fenugreek powder, Turmeric powder and salt to taste. Mix the spices well. A mouth watering aroma touches the nose. Add the Tamarind pulp/ Amchur powder/ Grated Mango. Saute it for a while.  The stuffing is ready. Remove it from fire and let it cool down. In the mean while  lets prepare the batter. Take Besan in a bowl and add Kalonji, Azwain, Cumin powder and salt to taste. Mix them well and add  Luke warm water to make a thin paste. Take care that no lumps are formed. Batter is ready. Now fill the stuffing’s inside the Okras/ Bhendi’s carefully. Heat 250 ml oil in a frying pan for deep frying. Dip the stuffed Okras/ Bhendi in the Besan batter and deep fry them till they are golden brown. Stuffed Crispy Okra is ready to be served.

Note: This dish goes well with Roti or Steamed Rice and lentil.